Persuasive Essay: A Comprehensive Guide & Help Source

30 Nov 2016

A persuasive essay is one of the most common assignments regardless of the academic level. The paper gives you a perfect opportunity to demonstrate knowledge of the subject, vocabulary skills, critical thinking, and so much more. Persuasive speech can easily be considered as an art form or a skill you’ll have to use throughout your education and beyond. In order to write an outstanding paper, you just need the right approach and practical tools. Scroll down to find out more.

Definition

A persuasive essay is defined as a type of an essay wherein a writer explains a topic and attempts to persuade a reader that his/her point of view is most informed, accurate, and valid perspective on the subject. Throughout the paper, a writer develops an argument, takes sides, and explains why a reader should adopt their opinion.

Persuasive writing utilizes logic and reason to demonstrate that one idea is more legitimate and superior than the other. Although the goal is to persuade a reader, a writer should not make baseless claims. Instead, the argument must always use sound reasoning and solid evidence.

How to write a Persuasive Essay?

At the very beginning, you should take a few moments to think about the essay topic. Do you agree with it? Do you disagree? Form your opinion on a given subject. Teachers and professors want to get a closer insight into your critical thinking, so try to avoid thinking whether your professor would agree/disagree with it too. Use your own opinion to develop an argument, research, and compose a persuasive essay.

Persuasive essays often push the envelope and discuss controversial subjects. You don’t have to play it safe. It all comes down to the way you portray your argument and evidence you choose to persuade a reader to adopt some opinion.

How to Start a Persuasive Essay?

Persuasive speech requires a thorough preparation. Before the writing process can begin, you need to research the subject. In fact, research is the basis or foundation where you’ll build the essay. Why? That is the process when you get informed about the subject even though you probably think you know everything. Research yields evidence that a writer can use to back up all the claims.

Once the research process is over, it’s time to proceed to the outline. Without an outline, your mind is scattered, wanders from one idea to another and it shows in your writing style. Composing an outline allows you to organize the notes you’ve taken while researching, and it always generates a few additional ideas you can use.

Persuasive Essay Outline

Outline – the outline for persuasive essay consists of three major parts: introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Each of these parts can be divided into subsections that keep you focused on your argument without risking wandering off the topic

Intro – the main purpose of the introduction is to catch reader’s attention and make them interested enough to continue reading. Ideally, the introduction should consist of three elements: the hook, defining the audience, and thesis statement. The hook is the very first sentence of your essay and its goal is to get someone’s attention. Your hook can be anything from a question to fun facts, quotes, and anecdotes.

Right after hook, you have to make the introduction relatable to the audience. A reader (or more of them) has to feel close to the subject. Why should they bother reading? Specify why the subject is important to them. The last sentence or two of the introduction accounts for the thesis statement. This is the part where you clearly state the subject you’re going to discuss and the argument you’ll make

Body Paragraphs – a specific number of paragraphs in this section isn’t defined. It all comes down to your argument and claims you make. Each paragraph in the body section should consist of a claim that supports the argument and evidence. One claim, one paragraph. Depending on the subject and word count, you can also address opposing views to show why they are wrong (with evidence, of course)

Conclusion – the last paragraph of the persuasive essay and equally important as other sections. The conclusion should consist of a short summary of the topic, benefits to the reader, and call-to-action. A short summary of the topic mentions key points you’ve made. The next sentence or two specifies why it’s important to take an action, potential solutions, and what could happen if nothing is done on the matter. To motivate a reader, finish off the essay with a simple call-to-action line or sentence.

Persuasive Essay Topics

Good Persuasive Essay Topics

Studying martial arts is good for physical and psychological wellbeing

Community service should be required for teens

Journal writing is therapeutic

Security cameras are useless/keep us safer

It’s unethical to keep a bird in cage

Teachers should be tested like students

Students should be able to grade their teachers

Classes should be made different for both genders

Trump era brings the end of democracy to the entire world

College Persuasive Essay Topics

All college students should be required to participate in sports activities

Reality shows are exploiting people

Religion and science can go hand in hand

All-girl and all-boy colleges are good/bad

We should/not spend more money on space missions

Royal family should be abolished

Immigration laws should be stricter/more lenient

Should college athletes be paid for playing?

US society justifies surveillance

People should undergo IQ test in order to vote and have children

Media is ruled by politicians

Persuasive Essay examples

The problem with essay writing is that we can’t think of anything when we’re supposed to work on the assignment. In times like these, you just need that extra “push” or moment of inspiration that will generate tons of ideas you can use for your own paper. The best way to learn how to write a persuasive essay is to read an example of someone else’s work. Here’s an example of how a high-quality persuasive essay should look like.

Stuck on Your Persuasive Essay Outline?

Persuasive Essay Help

Essay Writing Service – before submitting an essay it is necessary to proofread and edit it first. Although most of us are inclined to edit and proofread content on our own that’s not the best idea. We can never be objective to our own work and always end up overlooking some mistakes. Edusson gathered a team of talented and skillful writers, editors and proofreaders who will ensure your paper is error-free. Editors correct spelling and grammar mistakes, punctuation, style and formatting mistakes, references, you name it

Essay Examples – although the persuasive writing structure is easy, one still needs motivation boost to kick-start the assignment. Edusson’s Essay Examples is an incredibly useful platform that allows you to search through the extensive database and read examples of persuasive writing. You’ll get inspired easily.

Essay Topics Generator – sometimes teacher/professor assigns the topic, but in other instances, students have to choose on their own. There is no need to waste hours trying to come up with a good title. Just go to Edusson Magic Help, specify essay type and you’ll get tons of ideas instantly

Essay Checker – if you’d like to edit the paper on your own, there’s an easy way to avoid overlooking something – essay checker. With RobotDon you can easily enhance the quality of the essay. Improve your paper. Raise your grades! The platform analyzes paper for plagiarism, sentence structure, word use, readability, and other parameters. Within just a few seconds you can identify all the strengths and weaknesses of your essay. A great tool for every student!